The council of Nikea
Qrow had been raised to be a free thinker by both his farther and his legions 1st captain Ahriman, Qrow was never really one to sit back and accept things at face value, he felt like the truth was the most important thing but also knew full well that at times that the truth must be hidden for the benefit of keeping the peace for the time being.
He was in part the legions top intelligence and counter intelligence officer working closely with his father's bodyguards and the Corvidae cult who revered him as a sort of prophet.
His role besides being the balancing force for his farther magnus worst excesses is being the master of recognisance due to his psychic might had manifested after his birth, his ability to shapeshift into a small or titianic crow had proven more than useful for the legion's battles on more than a few occasions. His company in the legion was majority legion recon marines who had willingly limited their powers in favour of technology much to the initial ridicule of the rest of the legion with the results proving more than apt to dissuade said mockery.
Qrow was by far the oldest at 15 standard terrain years of age and most accomplished of all of the children of the primarchs his reputation for getting results with his methods even going as far as to get the praise of the Raven guard and acknowledgment of the infamous alpha legion and even a rare personal praise from Sanguinius himself when last they met.
His physiology much like his cousins was quite advanced much like his and their fathers having reached full maturity by age ten.
Qrow's armour was the least ornate of his legion and of the primarch children, it's a war plate of artificer grade MK 4 maximus custom modified to be a lot more mobile with an inbuilt iron halo to compensate for the lesser amount of armour. His armours helmet was unique in it being one of the few throughout the legion of not possessing a psychic hood device built into it as his stability was the envy of all the thousand sons and has its apothecary's clamouring for his genetic material on a regular basis.
Qrow's weapon was a force sword with an inbuilt bolter at the cross-guard point having elected to use bolt pistol shell's and when his weapon was in its ranged configuration it was effectively a carbine bolter in its own right but one feature, he insisted on was for it to have the ability to have a power field on its blade his reasoning being "if we happen to fight a xenos or human remnant I do not wish to be caught out by psychic blanks"
However not all could be going well for him and his legion. Those legions who held prejudices against them and psykers in general had been campaigning to have them especially the thousand sons censored or outright purged from the crusade and imperium. Being forced to act the emperor had been forced to act and called all of his sons to the planet of Nikea to hold a council to determine the fate of pyskers in the imperium of man.
It had been a few days since the start of the conclave and it has not gone well for those who wished to keep psychic powers in use in the imperium of man, Leman Russ, the primarch of the vulka venrika legion one of the loudest voices against pyskers had been steam rolling though the representatives of the legions that had been sent instead of their primarch in particular the white scars of Jhagatai khan.
Qrow had been watching from the galleries on request of Magnus not wanting his son to be at the forefront of such naked bigotry, the gallery he's stood in is populated by himself, his legions 1st captain Ahriman and multiple other officers from different legions including some of the other children of the primarchs all were helmeted and had their eyes fixed on the proceedings with the daughter of Russ with her thunder hammer stood only a few astartes away and has been looking saddened this entire event this far.
Stood next to his 1st captain and best friend Ahriman Qrow grumbles into their private linked vox "this is madness, our crusades purpose is to banish the ignorance of old night as my uncle Horus has said in the past"
Ahriman responds to his Prince "while I can't deny that this is the ignorance of old night made manifest my Prince needn't I remind you that this isn't for our minds to decide"
Qrow grumbles again his tone becoming increasingly hostile "then you had best have a few barrels of your wine on hand captain for when this is done, as depending on the result I would make one of the savages of Fenris appear as tolerant of it as a human by comparison"
this gets a chuckle out of the sorcerer "then I would ask you do the same with your brandy my Prince"
Over the next hour Sanguinius at the behest of his own legion makes his case in favour of not banning the use of psychic power, his daughter stood beside him with her black wings on full and radiating psychic energies as if to piss of Russ on purpose.
When Sanguinius leaves the centre of the huge ringed table. Then it comes time for magnus to make his case but Qrow knows or at least hopes he knows that based on a psychic vision he had the day prior this will spell disaster if he doesn't intervene.
Qrow can feel his farther approaching the chamber and he has seconds to decide to chance the likelihood of Magnus's testimony succeeding in turning the tide and takes a deep breathe inside of his helmet before leaping of the galleries and turning into his crow form and swooping down right as his farther emerges through the doors to the chamber escorted by Aquillion Custodes terminators.
The primarchs all looked shocked and some angered especially Angron of the world eaters and Leman Russ who is about to leap up and attack when a stern look from the emperor has them all still and silent as he himself appears deeply curious by the boldness of this action with a very slight smile creeping onto his face.
1st captain Ahriman nearly falling over the railing trying to catch his lord's son says to himself "I do hope you know what you're doing Qrow"
Landing on the marble floor he turns back into his normal form with an ethereal flash of red light, getting down into his knee he faces the emperor and says "I beg your pardon your highness, but I must intervene and offer the case for my legion myself on behalf of my farther as my duty to my legion must come 1st in this circumstance over that of a son"
The emperor who has been the silent observer for most of this conclave stands up from his seat as he dismisses the attempts from Russ and Magnus to interject and leans down and rests his hands on the table and with his loud noble voice says "it is a shame, not that you do what you're doing Qrow, son of Magnus, it is a shame that despite my sons baring children of their own that they bar a few do not trust them to aid or make their cases for them. Know this Qrow, your testimony will count towards the thousand son's legion choose your words carefully"
Magnus loudly objects "farther! you ca.." The emperor snaps back up at him " my decision is final Magnus, please be seated" his tone is incredibly stern and outright harsh as the crimson king takes his seat but not before glaring at his 1st captain.
Qrow, now well and truly in the spotlight takes of his helmet as he stands up and locks it under his right arm whilst resting his hand on his sword not entirely convinced Russ won't attack him for what he's about to say.
"Friends, Uncles, and cousin's, lend me your ears as I do not wish to keep you for too long.
I as my father's and legions top intelligence officer I'm well aware of the accusations and false claims levied at our feet for what we are and to that is say this, when we all met on Terra for the 1st time years ago what was the 1st objective of then great crusade our Emperor told fall of those who were present?" He pauses to see if any of the primarchs would take him up on his question to which Vulkan, primarch of the fire born of Nocturne does standing up
" To unite as many of the lost parts of humanity as possible and sweep aside the stigmas and superstations of old night "
His tone is deep and warm and contain a heavy weight of his accent, finishing he sits back down and Qrow resumes his speech
"Thank you, uncle of the salamanders, one of the many accusations coming directly from the mouth of Leman Russ is that my legion practices witchcraft and to this I reply "he briefly pauses to turn and face the furious wolf of Fenris.
" Your own legions psykers practice magic centred and drawn from the "spirits of Fenris" you yourself have a encouraged the usage of what by all accounts of reason is witchcraft itself, and as for your near constant accusations at our expense is say this. Your blatant and ignorant bigotry towards not only us but those with psychic power in general is hypocritical of the highest degree. I'm well aware of your attempts to plant spies in our ranks trying to dig up what little scraps of evidence you can against us. "
He pauses to take stock of the room and Leman thunders to his feet and growls after casting a glance at his daughter.
"For what does a boy know of my legion? you are but a fledgling daring to punch above your station! your loyalty to your witch of a farther has blinded you to the simple truths of the galaxy!" Leman launches into a tirade against the son of the 15th legion as the emperor via telepathy speaks to Magnus directly
" My son, be honest with me, do you trust and believe your son" Magnus taken aback by the question answers "yes, I trust my boy with my life farther, whilst I disagree with his methods thus far what he says rings true"
The emperor turns his head to his son and nods before responding "I'll trust your judgment m.." He's about to continue when he suddenly stands up when he sees Leman attempt to jump upon Qrow who is admirably holding his ground against the mountain of a primarch and bellows "Leman Russ! stand down or be banned from this council!"
his loud psychically enhanced voice echoes throughout the chamber, reverberating off every surface and grabbing everyone's attention as Leman freezes in place before angrily sitting back down, with this new calm Qrow continues "in have no doubt that most of you are aware that yes, we do practice many and varied disciplines, myself included, I will not deny that, some of which at 1st glance would appear to be witchcraft to some and to that I say this. Our legion simply seems to master and learn from the warp and not only use it for our own benefit but to help humanity as a hole, even now I'm implementing reforms to have the legions battle brothers lessen their reliance on psychic might and my company's record speaks for itself."
He finishes but the emperor says "call upon your witnesses and evidences and consider your testimony complete"
Qrow locks eyes onto the daughter of the space wolf's daughter and says "I call upon Valkyrie, daughter of the Vulka Fenrika as my 1st whiteness" this has Leman Russ seething in rage as the daughter in question visibly recoil from being called upon but she obeys the summons and leaps down mag locking her helmet to her waist as it was a rare artificer grade MK 1 thunder pattern with a fully enclosed helmet.
Her ginger hair spills out of her helmet when she does so as her immense size in her power armour put the terminator clad son of Horus to shame. Taking few moments, she ties her hair back and reveals a large angry red and purple bruise upon her face as she despite her size and typical energy she's renowned for her voice is one of a scared child "I..I have evidence... in support of the thousand sons" she takes a round mini hololith device of her belt and places it on the ground before it activates.
Once it does it reveals two hard light projections of Valkyrie and Leman Russ arguing with Valkyrie's projection speaking 1st "farther! you can't be serious! you're asking the astartes of my great company to partake in subterfuge of an allied legion? Based upon what evidence other than their psykers?" I'm a psysker farther, our legion possesses psykers of our own! " Before her recording can continue, she's suddenly swatted aside by Leman's fist sending her flying out of camera view as the recording voice of Russ responds
"Then you are complicit with witches and sorcerers! That wasn't a request but an order! Now get up weakling you will be on the vanguard of our next as...the recording stops when Valkyrie retaliates and attacks her farther.
This has the whole chamber stunned to silence as Russ looks utterly betrayed and seconds away from getting violent when the emperor visibly outraged stands up and walks his fists in the table shocking even Mortarion and his daughter with the latter shaking as a result. The emperor's mighty booking voice shouts out "captain general Valdor, place Valkyrie and her company of astartes into immediate custody and as for you Leman Russ! You are banned from these proceedings infill their completion and your legions testimony is hereby struck down and invalidated, I call a recess to these proceedings, dismissed!"
Qrow lets out an uneasy breath but smiles that his gamble had paid off by a landslide, turning to the barley emotionally stable Valkyrie he says "I understand that must have been hard for you, the warp only knows how I'd fair in your position"
Valkyrie looks at the necklace baring her legions symbol and rips it off saying with her voice quivering trying to keep it together "it's fine...if I didn't do it my 1st captain would have done it in my stead"
Qrow's about to respond when the massive form of Vulkan looms over both of them, Valkyrie beams at the sight of her best friend of the primarchs but still sadly moves to embrace him as Magnus call over his son...
Prospero sometime later...
The council of Nikea had ended with an even split for both sides, whilst not outright banning the use of pyskers it had placed heavy regulations upon them effectively banning the more "questionable" powers from use for the time being, the Vulka Fenrika had been outright censored for bringing about this situation in the 1st place with Valkyrie and her entire great company being allowed to continue combat actions under the protection of a shield company of the custodes on the off chance that Russ won't seek to attack or purge his own daughter.
But not all was well...
Things had been going wrong since the council had concluded. The warp had started to stir, causing many in the thousand sons to start rapidly mutate into chaos spawns in the flesh change.
However, whilst Qrow was away from Magnus's side conducting operations with his company "the bloody Crows" Magnus had realised something was terribly wrong with his brother Horus and despite the sort of ritual being needed to check up on Horus effectively banned by the Nicaean edict he conducted it anyways.
This would prove calamitous for the legion, as Qrow returned from lending aid to a lost strike force of the salamanders legion he had learned that not only did his farther break the edict but had also brought down the Emperor wrath upon them with the ruler of the Imperium of man dispatching Leman Russ of all primarchs to arrest Magnus with the saving grace being that the primarch was on the leash of a captain of a full shield company of the adeptus custodes and a small section of the anathema psykana.
Qrow had spent a week near non-stop arguing with his farther over the breach in the edict. "What on the golden sands of our home have you done farther! I barley was able to save our legion from the bigotry of the other legions and touchline and squandered it and for what? To speak with the war master?!"
the crimson king angrily turns to his son and responds "Horus has fallen to the dark powers! I tried to save him but I failed, I tried to warn farther of the impending disaster but only succeeded in destroying a critical part of his "great project" he ends bold faced lying to his son about the deal with the Lord of change he had made, this answer has Qrow utterly stunned his dry course tone quivering slightly.
"You can't be serious! That is impossible! I have no doubt that this will get us purged it Horus isn't stopped or rescued! " he's about to launch into a tirade when 1st captain Ahriman comes screaming into the room "my lords! The Vulka Fenrika strike force has arrived in system weapons ready!"
this has Qrow putting on his helmet and reaching for his sword "we must act, I will not stand by to be purged, if we're to be slaughtered I will do so making sure the pups of Fenris remember the cost of it" this has Ahriman seconding the motion "I stand by the prince my lord, we must see to our defence! Prospero must be protected."
Magnus speaks "no, stand down, we have been sanctioned and must pay the toll for it..." He sits on his throne defeated and depressed as this causes an argument for several hours which had allowed the Thousand wolfs of Fenris to start drop old assaults upon the surface, once the He thundering booms start ringing out across the planet then...the screaming starts...
Qrow begs to his farther one last time "farther we NEED to act! Lead us in our defence! Don't allow yourself to be killed like some cornered animal!" His helmets bidding His face but Qrow is weeping inside of his helmet even more so once Magnus turns his head away from his son receiving to meet his gaze.
Qrow accepting his dad's willingness to die turns to Ahriman and says "if our legions to perish we are going to make dam sure we will make them bleed for it, will you stand by me Ahriman?" Ahriman sick at his own primarchs actions grabs asks by the arm, a brother's embrace and says "the let this be the hour we draw swords together my prince"
As symbolic gesture they exchange their flasks of favoured alcohol.
However right as their walking out Qrow is frozen in place before a portal opens up, a Forrest on the other side of it, Ahriman turns and sees his king had casted the spell before pushing Qrow through it...
When Qrow slams into the mud on the other side he rolls onto his back and sees his father closing the portal, scrambling to his feet he tries to reach the portal yelling out to his farther but failing to reach it before it slams shuts trapping him whenever he was sent and causing him to face plant into the soil...
"Noo!" He belts out in a psychic scream the BOOMS across forest for miles whilst ripping up multiple huge trees in process and sending them flying outwards knocking even more down as he rips his helmet off and falls to his knees weeping " no... how could you... "
He doesn't have long when he hears the growling of beasts around him, having had enough of mercy for the time being Qrow's eyes snaps open glowing with pure power and might.
His eyes are greeted by a pack of huge black furred creatures with large bright white bone plates with red markings and deep red eyes all drooling and snarling at him this only serves to make him angry as he realises, they're wolves...
as they start to charge him Qrow extends his right hand and proceeds to manifest "smite" at full power, the air around him becomes ice cold with plants dying before suddenly spitting out a deadly arc of pure warp lightning. The lightning incinerates whatever it touches, trees catch aflame and shrubs vanish into ash in seconds never mind what it does to the beasts, those that aren't incinerated to ash are set ablaze howling in agony as they rush off into the woods whilst others explode, they're body fat exploding from the sheer heat being put out.
Qrow blacks out as he draws his power sword and charges lost to grief...
When he comes to being shaken awake by a human hand, he opens his eyes and sees he's surrounded by hundreds of dead beasts and a utterly ruined portion of the Forrest, trees that have become burnt out husks with many more having become scorched and scarred by his battle.
Turning his head slightly Qrow's eyes are greeted by an older man, probably in his late thirties and clearly a psyker, he can recognise it in his eyes stood over him saying "are you alright sir? that was one hell of a scrap you fought, might I ask your name and where you came from?"
as Qrow responds it begins a relationship that will have unintended consequences for the fate of this world of... Remnant...